Schools

C2C Elementary School

At the core of The Choice To Change Foundation, we strongly believe that education is what will make the ultimate difference in a underprivileged child’s life. A ‘quick-fix’ material or monetary donation that will soon fade away will not help sustain a child’s continual growth and cannot permanently change the child’s unfortunate predicament. This is why, two schools were established at the start of this non-profit organisation.

C2C’s first students at Lalmati – July 2010

​Year 2010 – The initial school was founded in mid-2010 and hosted 25 children at the Lalmati slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. An additional five children joined the school by the end of 2010. As the school was leaving a great and positive impact on the children and the community, a second branch was opened in January 2011 in Khilkhet (Middle-Zone), another slum area in Dhaka city. This second school started by hosting 26 new children.

Khilkhet’s students – May 2011

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Year 2011 – Throughout 2011, The Choice To Change Foundation educated a total of 56 children. Each one of the four classrooms accommodated approximately sixteen students. The formula of one teacher per 16 students was first tested and implemented in 2011 and since then was permanently adopted by the organisation. By end of 2011, The Choice To Change team included four teachers, a Director of Operations and three volunteer administrators helping from abroad. The organisation attained Trusteeship status in February 2011 and was titled The Choice To Change Bangladesh Trust.

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Year 2012 – As a result of the continuous noble and generous donations from its contributors, The Choice To Change had expanded its capacity once more and was able to enrol an additional 40 new children in January 2012. Throughout 2012, The Choice To Change was educating a total of 96 children and was still run by three volunteer administrators, but now employing six teachers and a Director of Operations.

C2C students Lalmati – January 2012

Year 2013 – By the beginning of 2013, The Choice To Change organisation had grown to more than twice its size, in just over two and a half years. This was only made possible thanks to the generous monetary and voluntary contributions made to this fantastic success story. By mid-2013, the two schools employed eight professional and highly dedicated teachers, who are managed by Sunil, the Executive Director. Sunil is further supported by David, the Project Coordinator and Rani, the school nurse. During 2013, The Choice To Change Foundation is responsible for the education of a total of 128 children in both its Khilkhet and Lalmati branches.

C2C students Khilkhet – January 2013

Foundation Status: On March 20, 2013, the government of Bangladesh granted the organisation its long awaited ‘Foundation Status’. C2C now goes by the official title of The Choice To Change Foundation and is equivalent to a national NGO in Bangladesh.

Year 2014 – So far in 2014, Choice to Change Foundation has focused on quality of education through implementation of the British curriculum, with modern teaching methods that are carried out by highly qualified and experienced teachers.

The recently developed nursery class accommodated 23 new students and the school now incorporates a Headmaster for effective leadership, as well as 19 full-time staff to handle day to day activities and provide the children with valuable education. Classrooms and offices are now PC equipped to contribute towards a modern teaching and learning approach, and in the second half of 2014, expansion of the building at Lalmati slum will commence.

Moreover, the daily lunch program has been established by Tatyana and friends for 148 children, while the Abu Dhabi Week’s Medical Emergency Fund has enabled cost coverage for all medical emergency cases, under supervision of the School Nurse provided. The school now includes its own fully equipped clinic with basic medicine and up to date medical instruments.

Choice to Change has now implemented Poverty Alleviation Project through the foundation’s social worker and CROCS Middle East has kindly sponsored shoes, bags and stationary for the children by the Chalhoub group.